by KJ Dahlen
Bastian shook his head. “Again, with the unusual,” he muttered to himself. He then turned to Deke. “Did you get the message we got on the way here?”
Deke nodded. “Actually, Joey did and he forwarded it to us.” He motioned to a silent Joey that had stood there staring at all that had transpired.
James joined them, along with the three women. He turned to Joey. “How the hell did you intercept the photo and the message?”
“I found the site whoever sent them was using.” Joey shrugged. “Then I was able to actually message the person who sent the message. They were desperate it seemed to stop this. Or, well, I don’t know that for sure?”
James shook his head again and said, “You and me we have to talk son.”
“Take it inside,” Deke told them. “Find Zipper and get set up in his rooms. Joey is uncomfortable around so many people and you’ll need the peace and quiet anyway.”
The whole group moved inside and Bane sought out Cricket. She was there with her husband and her children, including Dusty gathered around her. Then he met Raine’s eyes and he saw the fury in them.
Raine’s father and brothers all gathered around the small family and they all glared at Bane.
Bane hesitated then nodded to acknowledge their stand. Their actions told the other man they would protect her even against him, if they needed to.
Bane stared at Dusty and couldn’t tear his eyes away from the boy.
Gambler moved to stand in front of his son.
Bane raised an eyebrow at his move.
Sarah moved up and reached out to touch his arm.
Bane felt his muscles tighten at the possessiveness they had for Dusty. Taking a deep breath, he looked over at her. His face gentled and he reached out to take her hand.
Without a word, he pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her. “Are you all right?” he whispered.
Sarah nodded. “I worry about you, not me.”
Bane saw the lingering fear in her eyes and he sighed, “Cricket is part of my past and I find it all too easy to slip back, but she is safe. She challenges me but she has never shown an ounce of fear of me. Maybe I had to challenge her but she didn’t fold. Maybe I needed her, just for once to fold but she didn’t. And now I don’t think she ever will. She has more of her mother in her than I realized.”
“And is that a good thing?” Sarah whispered.
“That’s what’s going to keep her alive. She will never admit defeat and that’s always a good thing.” Bane shook his head. Then he turned to Deke. “Well, let’s get this done already. I need to hunt this little pissant down and destroy him for threatening my grandson.”
Chapter Seven
“Let’s take this to the Church room.” Deke glared at him. “I don’t know about your world, but in ours...We don’t scare the ladies and the kids.”
Bane simply stared at him. His expression showed absolutely nothing.
Bastian looked back and forth between the two fierce men. “You both need to remember something here. We are all on the same side in this.”
The tension remained but it seemed to dial down a notch.
The brothers all followed Deke, Bane and Bastian as they made their way to the gathering room they used to hold their meetings in. Deke then texted Zipper to join them.
Bane began to pace while the others settled into their chairs.
Zipper, James and Joey came in and took their seats.
Deke rapped his gavel onto the table and glared at Bane. “Ok Mr. Jessin, why don’t you tell us all why you’re here?”
Bane glared at them and growled, “Bane Jessin died in the woods when he blew up Stark’s compound two years ago. I was as good as dead. Priest here...” He motioned to the man. “Offered me a new life. From that day, I became Theo Franks. I’d thought I’d left the man who was Bane in those woods but apparently, I didn’t. He’s being dragged back into the limelight and I hate that fact.”
The men all stared at him. They remained silent and they all seemed to wait for him to continue.
Bane took a minute, he hated to talk to most people, and so this challenged him. “When we received the photo of Dusty in a sniper’s lens I didn’t know who or what was after him. I assumed the bastards that sent it was after me and I was right. When James told me, the photo came from Bath, New York, I knew at once, who sent it. I had him run the name, Boris Komperov while we were on the road.”
James nodded. “I did as he asked and ran the name, only to find out that Boris died a week ago. Only his three children attended his funeral.”
“Three?” Bane asked. “I only knew he had one child, a boy. He would have been around seven, twenty five years ago.”
James nodded. “He was, he’s thirty two now, his name is Grigori. But he has a younger sister, Kisa and a younger brother, Maksim.”
“I don’t think it was Grigori that sent you the second text. The one pleading for help,” Joey voiced his opinion.
Bane snapped his head around to glare at the younger man. “What second text? We never got a second text.” He looked over at Priest.
Priest shook his head.
Bane then glanced back over at Joey. “All we ever got was the first text, asking if Dusty belonged to me.”
Joey turned troubled eyes to Deke and Bastian. “You didn’t?”
“No, I did not,” Bane confirmed his answer. “What text are you referring to?”
Joey opened his laptop and showed it to them. ‘Help me stop my brother from doing something stupid and getting himself killed or killing someone else.”
Bane, Bastian, James and some of the others looked at the message.
Bane raised his head to glare at Joey. “How did you get this message when it never came to us?”
Joey shrugged. “I have to say something here. A couple of days ago, I found a search stream. It was looking for a Bane Jessin. Now, most people know this name. I did just from rumor. I watched this stream. I attempted to make contact after I caught that image of the boy in a target. Then I got this text on the screen for that website, I sent it to Amos.” He nodded at the man who had sat silent during this conversation.
“The sender must know you tapped into the original message and downloaded it from the source,” James told him. “This could be our break.”
Zipper nodded. “You have a rapport with the sender. We can use that to pinpoint where they are.”
Deke stared at Bane. “What happened twenty five years ago with this Boris person?”
“That’s none of your business,” Bane growled.
Deke just sat back in his chair as he crossed his arms over his wide chest and glared at him. “Normally, I wouldn’t stick my nose in anyone else’s business, but this became my business when it involves a member’s kid. Do you know yet, how they linked you and Dusty together?”
Bane tightened his lips and shook his head. “I always kept myself and my family apart for various reasons. One of those reasons was so this sort of thing wouldn’t happen.”
Deke nodded though his hard expression did not change. “I can understand that. But we need to know all we can about this family.” He sat forward and locked gazes with Bane. “We need all the intel that we can get. To run these fuckers down.”
Bane let out a sigh. “Twenty-five years ago, I was contacted by a man named, Aloysha Petroff. He was the leader of the Vory V Zakone in Pennsylvania. He told me he had a thief in his group and he wanted to set an example of this man for the rest of his people. He figured if I went after the man that would be enough of a stopping point that no one would ever steal from him again.” He paused and met Dekes stare. “This is what I did for a living at the time. It paid lucratively and seemed like an easy a job. The night I caught up with Boris he had his young son with him. He begged me not to harm his son and I told the man I had no quarrel with the boy. He knew why I was there. He told me where the money he took was and how I could get it back to Aloysha. He didn’t even fight back when I began my assault. When I
was done, he was broken and bleeding but alive. I told him then if I had to come back, he wouldn’t be breathing when I left. I let him live but he would never be completely free of me until I knew he would honor his word to me. He realized I was giving him a chance I had never given anyone else.” He shrugged then said, “I’m not sure why I let him live but I did. I left him unable to walk but he was still alive. He and his family would be in hiding for the rest of their miserable lives but he was still alive. I watched him for the next few years and he straightened out his life. He started over, broken in spirit and without enough money to see to his family’s needs, but that never hurt anyone. Some would even say it builds character, but I never saw the point in it. I knew it was this incident that set this threat into motion when James informed me of the location this text came from.”
“Ok.” Deke nodded. “This can’t be from Boris as he’s dead, so it must be from his oldest son Grigori. He had to be the one that saw what you did to his father. He might be the one holding the grudge.”
Bane glared at him. “He’d better I hope I do not find him then. He’s no longer a small child and he threatened my family. This time, I will not stop until he joins his father in the afterlife.”
“I don’t care what you do to this bastard but you keep your fucking hands off Cricket and Dusty.” Gambler growled. “If you touch her again, you and the Moore family are gonna have a Come to Jesus meeting. We may lose but you’ll feel it for a hell of a long time.”
Bane snarled showing his teeth. “Then you’d better keep her away from me. I have to become a monster again to stop this from happening and if she pisses me off.” He paused. “And she is likely to, being who she is. I may not be able to stop myself. I will do what I have to do to protect Dusty and if she doesn’t want to get caught up in the chaos that that will bring, she’d better stand clear. I won’t warn her again.” He leaned across the table. “And you and your family better stand back as well. I don’t suffer fools gladly and to get where I need to be, I will go right over the top of you and yours.”
Deke glared at him then looked over at Bastian and shook his head. This was not going to end well for someone and he didn’t want it to devastate the MC. “I think we all have to settle down and gather as much information as we can on this situation before we make any moves at all. We need to find them first.”
James shook his head at Bane. He’d known the man as Theo for two years now and here he was looking at someone he did not recognize. “That’s our cue to get to work boys.” He got to his feet. “The three of us need find out what we can and report back to them.”
Zipper turned to Joey. “Come on then. Let’s track these people down and figure out what they plan to do.”
Joey nodded and closed his laptop.
Chapter Eight
Kisa, Maksim, and Grigori pulled into Troy about midmorning.
They had taken their time and Grigori had been on the phone the whole time, switching driving times with Maksim. Grigori seemed to be in no hurry at the moment. He’d sent his message now. Taking his time, he wanted to drive the man they thought was Bane crazy with an attack he would control.
Grigori had a house lined up for them to stay in and when they arrived, two men were there to meet up with him. He claimed he had business to attend to, so he left as soon as they got there. He and the other two men were meeting up with some men in Troy that was necessary for this plot to find and destroy Bane or so he claimed.
Kisa knew what to do as Grigori had given her and her little brother their orders before he left. And they’d better be done with these tasks when he got back or she would suffer.
After she got done, Maksim came over to where she was resting and shook his head. “What the hell are we doing here?” He sighed in disgust.
Kisa looked at her younger brother and shook her head. She had no clue what he was feeling but she knew she had to keep her own opinion to herself. She didn’t want Maksim to let Grigori know what she had already done. “I have no idea. Do you know anything about the two men that met us?”
Maksim shook his head. “No, but they seemed to know him didn’t they?”
Kisa nodded then bit her lip. “Did you see the V tattooed on their wrists?” she dared to whisper.
Maksim paled. “They are Vory V Zakone?” He hung his head and swore in Russian. “What the hell is he thinking? The Vory is what we spent a lifetime hiding from because of a mistake Poppi made as a young man. Does he think they have forgotten? They aren’t exactly known to forgive and forget you know.”
“Da, I know,” she agreed. “I’m afraid this mission he seems to be on isn’t going to go down the way he thinks it is.”
“He’s going to get himself and us dead, hanging around the Vory V Zakone.” Maksim shook his head. “Poppi made some serious enemies with them before you and I were born and now he’s in bed with them? That’s not good at all.”
Kisa nodded. “The Vory has a long memory and they don’t like thieves very much. I have a feeling Grigori is being set up for a fall and you and I are going to be collateral damage.”
“So what are we going to do?” Maksim asked his sister. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to die because Grigori wants justice for something Poppi admitted he did. This Bane could have slit his throat but he walked away, leaving Poppi still breathing.”
Kisa shook her head and looked out the window. This town was like every other town and she had found herself looking out another window everywhere they went. Growing up, Poppi had always told them not to bring attention to themselves in case it was the wrong kind of attention. He didn’t want the Vory V Zakone to know he was still alive.
Now her brother had brought them into this plot to get his revenge and Kisa had a feeling all it would get them was dead.
Joey had been more than happy to get the hell out of that room and away from Bane Jessin. He’d realized in the last ten minutes of that meeting that everything he ever heard about the man was true, times ten. He felt his skin began to crawl and he knew if he wasn’t going to lose it, he had to get out of here quickly.
Now Joey got set up in the corner of Zipper’s office.
Zipper and James were setting up their equipment to sync and getting their information together.
When Joey checked the link he had before, he found another message from the mysterious sender from this morning.
The message read, ‘We are here now in Troy, and my brother has meet up with two men with a V tattooed on their wrists. Someone is going to die soon and I don’t want it to be me. Help me stop this.’
Joey hit the print button and waited for the message to print. Then he got up and walked over to where James and Zipper sat. He showed them the message. He knew the message wouldn’t stay there long, as the second message he got was gone now from the site. He figured the person sending them did not want this brother to see them.
James read it and then looked up at him. “Bastian needs to see this. Bane will know something about the V tattoo on their wrists.” He got to his feet. “You better come with me to verify this message.”
Joey shrugged. “The earlier message had disappeared and I think this one will too, as soon as it’s read.”
“Bring your laptop then, so we know for sure,” James told him.
Zipper joined them bringing his own laptop in case he had to run something down.
They went out. Then they showed Bastian and Deke the new message.
Bane took it and frowned as he read it. He growled and crushed the paper in his hands. “Those lousy bastards.”
“What do you know that we don’t just from reading the message?” Deke asked.
Bane raised his head and glared. “The Vory V Zakone members all have a V tattooed on their wrists. If these two men are Vory V Zakone, they plan to kill more than just Dusty.”
Deke looked over at his dad and then over to Gator. They had never had Russian mob in Troy before and they didn’t want them here now. The Bratva did not count, as they we
re an alliance for the MC. The Vory were ruthless and they took no prisoners. He didn’t think Leon would appreciate anyone else moving in so close to his family either.
He stared at Bane and growled, “We don’t need the Russian mob here, it’s too close to Boston and Leon will go to war to secure his place and protect his businesses.”
Bane scoffed. “The Vory V Zakone isn’t the true Russian mob, they are a wanna be mob, but they don’t have the righteousness to be considered Mafia. They are just a bunch of thugs and killers searching for justification in what they do.”
“Leon will still crush them.” Deke shook his head. “This will not be good for anyone. It will lead to a turf war that no one wants as the factions in Boston are always on the edge anyway.”
Bane snarled and reached for his phone. He dialed a number he hadn’t had to use in twenty five years. He put it on speaker phone, so they all could hear it. When the call was answered Bane snarled, “Aloysha, you are a double crossing bastard and I’m coming for you.”
“Who the fuck is this and how did you get this number?” An older man snarled back.
“This is Bane Jessin, remember me?”
“Da,” Aloysha acknowledged. “I remember you quite well. What the hell is this call about? Our business was concluded a long time ago. Well, mostly concluded.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Bane snapped. “I found your thief and I got back what you asked for, then I did what you asked, you said don’t kill your thief but make an example out of him. I did that. I left him broken and bloody but still breathing back then. Now after his death, his children have threatened my grandson’s life as well as my own and they have your men working with them.”
“No, they do not,” Aloysha stated emphatically. “Boris cheated me of more than what you returned to me, I didn’t know that when you returned what you did. But he knew and I kept looking for him all these years. He’s been in hiding all this time for a reason. He knew I was still looking for him for the rest of what he took from me.”
